{"id":95,"date":"2018-01-02T23:41:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T23:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/indigenizationcurriculumdevelopers\/?post_type=chapter&p=95"},"modified":"2024-08-26T22:49:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T22:49:04","slug":"appropriate-use-of-indigenous-content","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/indigenizationcurriculumdevelopers\/chapter\/appropriate-use-of-indigenous-content\/","title":{"raw":"Appropriate Use of Indigenous Content","rendered":"Appropriate Use of Indigenous Content"},"content":{"raw":"When selecting resources for your curriculum, it is important to incorporate authentic Indigenous resources. But what does it mean to be authentic? And how can such resources be incorporated in a respectful way? As a curriculum developer, it can sometimes be hard to know if efforts to bring Indigenous content and pedagogy into curriculum are a respectful inclusion or an instance of cultural appropriation.\r\n

Cultural appropriation<\/h1>\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"1174\"]Cultural appropriation[\/pb_glossary] can be understood as using intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone\u2019s culture without permission. It is most likely to be harmful when the source culture is a group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways (as with Indigenous Peoples), or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive or sacred (Scafidi, 2005). However, it is not always simple to identify when cultural appropriation is occurring. Let\u2019s explore two examples of learning experiences that use creating poles to understand the nuances of cultural appropriation.\r\n
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Example\u00a01: Cardboard Box \u201cTotem\u201d Poles<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nIn the learning exchange video series \u201cappropriation,\u201d Susan Dion gives the example of elementary school educators having their students make \u201ctotem\u201d poles out of cardboard boxes. She explains that this activity trivializes the importance of poles in Haida culture. Dion compares making totem poles to having children make a model of a Catholic chalice and host and pretending to give and take first communion. This would be clearly recognizable as inappropriate and offensive.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Example\u00a02: Thunderbird\/Whale Protection and Welcoming Pole: Learning and Teaching in an Indigenous World<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nThe University of Victoria\u2019s course, \u201cThunderbird\/Whale Protection and Welcoming Pole: Learning and Teaching in an Indigenous World\u201d for the faculty of education was pedagogically based in an Indigenous teaching and learning experience. The course involved the construction and installation of a thunderbird\/whale house pole, and pre-service teachers, education graduate students, and faculty worked alongside an Aboriginal artist-in-residence and an Aboriginal mentor carver\/educator. As part of an interactive learning community, the students experienced the principles of traditional Indigenous ways of teaching and learning including, mentorship and apprenticeship learning; learning by doing; learning by deeply observing; learning through listening, telling stories, and singing songs; learning in a community; and learning by sharing and providing service to the community.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn the first example, cultural appropriation occurred for the following reasons:\r\n